Originally Posted by
IAH-OIL-TRASH
May not be true - the FA I talked to Sunday said certain pre-order choices are only loaded in the numbers pre-ordered. Once the pre-order widow is closed, a subset of the pre-order choices (2 or 3) is used to fill out the cart for the remaining seats. That's why, on board, 5 choices aren't presented to people who haven't pre-ordered - it's restricted to the 2 or 3 "cart fillers".
Originally Posted by
physioprof
It's not at all clear to me that a FA would know this, and the existence of such a system would not be inferrable simply from the numbers of various meals loaded on the plane.
This is true for most domestic pre-ordering/catering. But —
Originally Posted by
drewguy
This is one of the bizarre attributes of the pre-order system. Other posts have suggested that United caters a set number of each type of meal, so pre-ordering just reserves your preferred meal.
Why with preordering, which closes well before the meals are prepared, they don't adjust numbers is a total lost opportunity. They should cater based on pre-orders plus then some allocation of each type of meal for any pax who haven't preordered.
This is true for Polaris pre-ordering/catering, which is the subject of the OP.
Originally Posted by
Doppy
I don't see any reason not to preorder. For a flight to Europe I preorder the no meal option usually.
That's the same as not pre-ordering, except for the on-board interaction with FA.